There are a bunch of great comics and also an inexplicable drone, which seems to be taking pictures of the various cool cars that the comic employs in the show.

It works for me:

]]>http://allthingsd.com/20131230/viral-video-even-jerry-seinfeld-has-a-drone-whats-with-that/feed/0Katie Couric Deal to Become Yahoo's "Global News Anchor" Set to Be Announced Mondayhttp://allthingsd.com/20131123/couric-deal-to-become-yahoos-global-news-anchor-set-for-monday/
http://allthingsd.com/20131123/couric-deal-to-become-yahoos-global-news-anchor-set-for-monday/#commentsSat, 23 Nov 2013 15:16:29 +0000http://allthingsd.com/?p=374637

As AllThingsD had first reported in August that it was working on, Yahoo is poised to announce a deal with well-known television news star Katie Couric to do a high-profile online interview show on its home page.

The deal is set to be announced on Monday, said multiple sources at the company, which could designate Couric as “global anchor” of the Silicon Valley Internet giant.

That title could change, of course. So could the deal or its timing, although it seems set now after months of negotiations with ABC News, which is both Yahoo’s online news partner and Couric’s current home network.

It’s not clear when the show itself will debut, though. It is likely to center on exclusive interviews with a range of high-profile celebrities, business execs and more, done by Couric specifically for the Web and prominently featured on Yahoo’s heavily trafficked main page.

There have been negotiations among the trio over many months, since Disney-owned ABC apparently holds rights to Couric’s digital output for the term of her ongoing contract. Some news outlets are reporting that Couric will leave her special correspondent job at ABC, where she has not actually appeared much. She also has a syndicated talk show that runs through the end of the season.

It’s the latest flashy move by CEO Marissa Mayer to try to goose the staid image of Yahoo and provide users with unique reasons to come to Yahoo. Couric and other content initiatives are part of a larger plan to differentiate the site.

Mayer has spearheaded the latest efforts herself, using her own tech celeb status, including hiring the New York Times’ tech reviewer David Pogue for a new tech site and also engaging in talks with well-known TV personality and producer Ryan Seacrest about possible ideas.

As I noted in a previous post:

This has been tried by the Silicon Valley Internet giant many times before, mostly without a lot of groundbreaking. That said: Netflix’s “House of Cards,” people!

And, of course, Yahoo already has some great and successful — though less flashy — content efforts going, especially in sports and finance. These have been flat-out terrific over the years, though the new streaming content redesign does not do them any favors, IMHO.

In addition, Mayer is essentially using a similar content playbook to that of former media and sales head Ross Levinsohn, who lost the top job to her. Until recently, she has been focused on other areas, such as mobile, although this is the kind of move like those she tried to make at Google when she was an exec there.

Perhaps more interestingly, it is a novel shift by Couric, who sources said became interested in the idea of doing a Web-only news show when she attended a Yahoo event for advertisers in the Caribbean last fall.

That said, pre-Mayer, Couric had also been engaged in talks with the company for some kind of Internet presence since early 2011, according to internal memos from Yahoo from the time (more on that later). And she also had talks back in 2004 when Lloyd Braun was running Yahoo media. (Lloyd is vindicated!)

It’s a risky gambit, in some ways. No big TV name in the news arena has successfully jumped to the Web, with the fascinating exception of former Fox News cable TV host Glenn Beck. His variety of independent effort, which he calls a “fusion of entertainment and enlightenment,” is a clear financial and audience hit. That’s largely due to Beck’s rabid fan base that pays a subscription fee for some content.

Couric is certainly a big name for Yahoo to land, and the company will surely aim both money and Web traffic at her in an effort to succeed. She is also a charming ringer to trot out to advertisers, of course.

Couric has done less-prominent appearances for Yahoo, including in New York at the NewFront ad event, and there is an offering called “Katie’s Take” on Yahoo News, basically repurposed content from her ABC daytime talk show, “Katie.”

The new deal is obviously much more substantive and I am certain that Mayer will bell-and-whistle its debut to within an inch of its life (call me, Katie, if you need any tips about the sitch inside your almost new home).

Since Couric left her job as well-known news anchor at CBS and, previously, as longtime star of NBC’s “Today Show,” she has been host of “Katie.” It debuted its second season in the fall.

Strengthening its online video efforts has been a recent key focus for Mayer in reviving Yahoo’s fortunes, along with mobile. Yahoo already tried unsuccessfully to buy France’s Dailymotion, and has since been mulling other major acquisitions in the space.

Yahoo has also struck a pricey deal for the longtime video archives of “Saturday Night Live,” but that money is much harder to recoup — perhaps impossible — compared to a show Yahoo owns outright that catches on.

Video ads are a big area of revenue growth online as traditional graphical ads fade. Yahoo itself has seen a sharp falloff of those key moneymaking ads under Mayer’s regime, part of a larger trend impacting everyone.

Mayer has waded into the arena herself (like I said, she’s a hey-look-at-me CEO) in an unusual — but highly entertaining — video presentation of Yahoo’s second-quarter earnings that was formulated in news-broadcast style.

“We think there’s room for lots of players and video really comes down to the question of the content,” Mayer said on the first of those calls.

She has even tried out interviewing herself, questioning “Hunger Games” star Jennifer Lawrence at a company event recently. While it was certainly a game effort, let’s just say she’s no Katie Couric.

What is entirely clear is that Mayer does seem to like the limelight herself — a source of increasing criticism, although in this she is not unlike a boatload of other ego-driven CEOs in tech — and those who are in it.

Hence, Couric and, presumably, others.

In the midst of all this Mayer deal-making, Yahoo is still without a media chief, since the departure of Mickie Rosen this summer; it also recently lost its video head, Erin McPherson. Internal sources said Mayer has said she is aiming to hire top television execs for the jobs, to underscore the company’s commitment to video.

That job is now being done by COO Henrique De Castro, although sources within Yahoo said that marketing chief Kathy Savitt has been pushing internally to take over some parts of that arena, too. (Now, that would be a reality TV show I would like to see on Yahoo!)

]]>http://allthingsd.com/20131123/couric-deal-to-become-yahoos-global-news-anchor-set-for-monday/feed/0MarissaTV, the Yahoo Q3 News -- If It Bleeds, It Definitely Does Not Leadhttp://allthingsd.com/20131015/liveblogging-marissatv-the-q3-edition-please-ignore-the-results/
http://allthingsd.com/20131015/liveblogging-marissatv-the-q3-edition-please-ignore-the-results/#commentsTue, 15 Oct 2013 21:08:04 +0000http://allthingsd.com/?p=365788

Time to hear Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer explain its third-quarter performance, which was, well, not very good.

Down revenue, down profits — decidedly unimpressive.

But Mayer is decidedly not, especially in her telegenic video earnings calls, which are being live-streamed in a kind of “Newsroom” meets “The Big Bang Theory” mashup.

Mayer will also answer questions from Wall Street analysts, and also from the general audience.

Here we go!

2:01 pm: Is it weird that I am as excited about this as I was about the season premiere of “Scandal”?

Yes, it is. But it also is what it is.

In fact, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is as TV-friendly as Olivia Pope and it is very boring when she is not on screen as well.

And, like Pope does in D.C. with her fantabulous spinning, Mayer has the unenviable task of explaining why Yahoo’s earnings and revenue have declined in the quarter, even as the entire industry rises strongly.

Of course, Mayer takes up the task with gusto. From the start, the results have been pushed aside for an enthusiastic list of all the good things going on at Yahoo.

Traffic is up! Mobile is up! Products are up! Talent is up!

Just not earnings or revenue. Tough toenails — we are gladiators in suits!

2:10 pm: This performance is frankly impressive, a kind of believe-in-me-people technique that deals in hope and dreams of future results that have not come in the 15 months she has been in charge at Yahoo.

It’s the right move, of course, because it is undeniable that Mayer has improved stock and morale at the company and investors are captivated by her whole image and mojo.

Mayer repeats exactly what I thought she would repeat — her mantra that better people will lead to better products will lead to traffic will lead to performance.

Three out of four isn’t bad. Amirite?

Right, as long as the stellar turn from China’s Alibaba Group — in which Yahoo has a big stake — is around to keep the stock surging.

“It makes our users tune in and not tune out,” says Mayer. I like what she did there.

Also, search is important, which it is, although the Microsoft advertising partnership keeps up its reliable underperformance.

Cut to Goldman, who forgets he is on TV and declines to smile. Then he gets that there is a camera on him and does. Awkward, but kind of adorkable. Ken, Boston’s WBZ is waiting!

2:36 pm: Now for the Q&A.

A question about advertising, especially its native ads — in-stream advertisements that kind of look like content.

Mayer notes it is in its experimental stages.

Actually, it is her big bet, especially as display ad revenue declines.

A Twitter question! About when Yahoo’s acquisition of Tumblr would become accretive.

(Zzzzzzzzz. In my dreams, I wish it had been an offer from Twitter CEO Dick Costolo for Mayer to join the board to give the microblogging service some lady power.)

Both Mayer and Goldman give a non-answer.

Next, the obvious question: When is the traffic crossover going to result in, you know, revenue crossover.

Mayer notes again that Yahoo was back to 2011 traffic, so naturally, Wall Street wants her to show them the money. “It’s difficult to say when,” says Mayer about that, which is to say absolutely nothing.

A search volume growth question. I am off to the donut shelf at the office for that one.

When I return, I notice what a lovely shade of purple Goldman’s tie is.

Ah, a display question! How is Yahoo doing?

Programmatic is the name of the game, to get the best possible prices, although it still has not worked as yet, Mayer says.

Then a really good question about where Yahoo will be in 12 months.

“I think things are very exciting,” says Mayer. “Hopefully, we can bring some new twists.”

A question about the increase in employees. Mayer uses a karate chop hand on this one, noting that she is going to hire the best people no matter what.

Chop! Chop! Just not employees.

2:49 pm: A question on handing over the mobile revenue percentage! That would be nice since everyone else reveals this number.

Except Goldman decides to say nothing, but promises that he might consider it next year.

A question about what Yahoo will do with its Alibaba cash horde when it IPOs.

Buy France!

(Just kidding. Goldman declines to say.)

Goldman again forgets to smile. Ken! Keep it tight! This could be better than “Orange Is the New Black” if you milk it. (Okay, that is asking too much, although Red might be a good weathergal if the cast of this quarterly earnings show is expanded.)

My mind begins to wander and I try to imagine who Ken and Marissa would be if they were characters on the Netflix prison dramedy. While she physically resembles feckless Piper, Mayer is more the warden lady, who gets stuff done with a smile and a metaphorical shiv in her back pocket; and Goldman is like one of the many eager beavers of the various groups who help out the bosses in the klink.

A query and paid click question.

“Overall, we think our search experience is good,” says Mayer.

As to quantifying the impact of acquisitions — Goldman notes there was some, but we are way too deep in accounting info.

Another question on query — the analysts want to know! Mayer declines to break out queries and notes that search share has declined.

But there is always tomorrow!

It’s another day, in case you have not heard.

A design question and its impact.

Mayer likes this one and gives a warm smile, as she is proud of her accomplishments here.

“We are really pleased with these refreshes,” she says.

The last question is about the premium display opportunities.

It’s a “big opportunity,” says Mayer, especially on the home page.

Mayer concludes with a list of the good news, from mobile growth to 15 product launches, and a very big smile to the audience watching at home.

In local news, as the old saying goes, if it bleeds, it leads.

Just not on MarissaTV.

]]>http://allthingsd.com/20131015/liveblogging-marissatv-the-q3-edition-please-ignore-the-results/feed/0Land Shark, Two Wild and Crazy Guys and Schweddy … Yahoo Adds 38-Year SNL Archive to Sitehttp://allthingsd.com/20130424/land-shark-two-wild-and-crazy-guys-and-schweddy-yahoo-adds-38-year-snl-archive-to-site/
http://allthingsd.com/20130424/land-shark-two-wild-and-crazy-guys-and-schweddy-yahoo-adds-38-year-snl-archive-to-site/#commentsThu, 25 Apr 2013 00:07:50 +0000http://allthingsd.com/?p=315324Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer said in a blog post that the Silicon Valley Internet giant had reached a one-year agreement with Broadway Video to “feature Saturday Night Live content exclusively on Yahoo! The partnership gives Yahoo! users exclusive access to the entire 38-year archive of SNL content as well as clips from the current season.” While a lot of the content has long been widely available across the Web (on Hulu and NBC.com, for example) — thus, kind of stretching the idea of “exclusive” a bit — having it all in one place online, as the Church Lady says: “Isn’t that special?”
]]>http://allthingsd.com/20130424/land-shark-two-wild-and-crazy-guys-and-schweddy-yahoo-adds-38-year-snl-archive-to-site/feed/0Winter Is Coming (Geeks, Too): HBO Premieres New Season of "Game of Thrones" in SF This Weekhttp://allthingsd.com/20130318/winter-and-geeks-are-coming-hbo-premieres-new-season-of-game-of-thrones-in-sf-this-week/
http://allthingsd.com/20130318/winter-and-geeks-are-coming-hbo-premieres-new-season-of-game-of-thrones-in-sf-this-week/#commentsMon, 18 Mar 2013 19:02:58 +0000http://allthingsd.com/?p=304473

It’s no secret in Silicon Valley that the HBO series “Game of Thrones” is a big favorite among the geek set — including Facebook CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg — what with its dungeons-and-dragons tone and fur-and-leather outfits.

Which is why Time Warner’s premium cable network decided to do one of its three red-carpet premieres for the third season of the hit fantasy show with a splashy event on Wednesday in San Francisco that will be teeming with digerati.

“We all thought it would be fun for the creators and the cast to come here and feel the enormous enthusiasm this community and our partners have for ‘Thrones,'” said HBO CEO Richard Plepler.

Eight cast members of “Thrones” will be attending, as will Plepler, HBO COO Eric Kessler, creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss and … drumroll … author George R.R. Martin.

The show is an adaptation of “A Song of Ice and Fire,” Martin’s series of popular fantasy novels, the first of which is titled “A Game of Thrones.”

No surprise — there is much swordplay in the epic. And that’s where AllThingsD comes in, since Walt Mossberg and I will be doing an onstage Q&A with Martin, Benioff and Weiss right after the first show of the new season is aired.

It’s on, or, as Martin wrote: “When you play the game of thrones, it’s either you win or you die.” Or enjoy a lovely party after.

We’ll have video of the interviews later, but here are two trailers for the third season, which begins airing March 31:

Without giving away the tragic end to the third season finale of popular PBS Masterpiece Classics television series “Downton Abbey,” it might be a good idea to take a big dose of Dame Maggie Smith as the Dowager Countess to feel better.

Here’s a compilation of some of her most withering asides from the first season — take 10 and see me in the morning — and also an interview of Smith that aired last night on “60 Minutes”:

]]>http://allthingsd.com/20130218/viral-video-cure-downton-abbey-depression-with-a-dose-of-dowager/feed/0Viral Video: HBO's "Game of Thrones" Back for More Geek-tastic Adventureshttp://allthingsd.com/20130129/viral-video-hbos-game-of-thrones-back-for-more-geek-tastic-adventures/
http://allthingsd.com/20130129/viral-video-hbos-game-of-thrones-back-for-more-geek-tastic-adventures/#commentsTue, 29 Jan 2013 09:28:24 +0000http://allthingsd.com/?p=289515As with “The Lord of the Rings,” the fantasy adventure saga “Game of Thrones” — the book turned into an HBO hit — is a favorite of the Silicon Valley geekosphere (Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg is a huge fan, for example).

Thus its March return for a third season on the pay-cable channel is cause for celebration. Then war, of course, followed by much machinating.

I know this people-buying-stuff-online thing must come as a shock to those who have been living in a cave for several years now.

For those with an Internet connection, though, sales rose to $1.04 billion on Black Friday, an increase of 26 percent over last year. It is the first time that Web purchasing for the important retailing day was over $1 billion, with 57.3 million consumers visiting online stores.

The entire amount of 2012 online holiday spending from the beginning of November until now, according to comScore, has been $13.7 billion. It is a 16 percent rise, but still a drop in the bucket compared to bricks-and-mortar retailing.

But, according to a statement from a comScore guy, “We continue to see this shopping day become more and more prominent in the e-commerce channel — particularly among those who prefer to avoid crowds at the stores.”

People don’t like being jostled at a mall when they can sit at home and buy more things on a couch. Imagine that!

Amazon was where the most action was among online retailing, followed by Walmart, Best Buy, Target and Apple. Auction site eBay was excluded from this group.

And, if you can bear any more stats, here is a chart from ChannelAdvisor on online sales:

In what has become an annual holiday tradition, those who keep track of these things have started in on touting just how digital the holiday shopper has become, whipping out all manner of buzzwords to do so.

Last year, it was Cyber Monday — this year, it’s turned out to be Mobile Thursday. What’s next? Social Network Saturday? Self-Driving Car Sunday? (We still have Black Friday, by the way, which is today.)

And, indeed, the Mobile Thursday phrase got some big laps around the track, with numerous online shopping surveys — coming out faster than you can buy that new tablet — using it in their flash reports yesterday and today.

This year’s anecdotal meme: Apple iPads go well with pumpkin pie.

What isn’t said so much is that it is still a very small number — though fast-growing — over the last few years, with overall sales reaching $500 million for Thursday, compared to about $1.2 billion on Monday, according to comScore.

Still, for now, no one seems to break out actual mobile sales figures, which are clearly still a fraction of the totals. But they are more than happy to tell you that people are certainly browsing on their mobile devices, which should come as a surprise to exactly no one who is tired of talking to the relatives about three hours into the day.

According to IBM’s Benchmark report, for example, online sales were up 17.4 percent over 2011 on Thanksgiving Day, noting that “big winners were retailers who connected customers with personalized deals across multiple screens including PCs, smartphones and tablets.”

Some stats from IBM about Thursday:

Mobile Traffic: The number of consumers using a mobile device to visit a retailer’s site reached 25.3 percent, up from 66.2 percent over 2011.

Mobile Shopping: The number of consumers using their mobile device to make a purchase increased to 18.3 percent, up 65.3 percent from 2011.

Mobile Email: Smartphone and tablet shoppers responded to email deals from retailers, with emails opened on mobile devices jumping 23 percent on Thanksgiving Day over 2011.

Couch Commerce: In the evening hours, consumers shifted from shopping through their smartphones at the dinner table to buying through their iPad on the couch. At the end of the day the iPad drove more retail traffic than any other device with traffic reaching 10.7 percent versus the iPhone at 9.1 percent and Android at 5.8 percent.

Social Shopping: Shoppers referred from Social Networks such as Facebook and Twitter increased in evening hours generating .63 percent of all online sales on Thanksgiving.

And today, Black Friday, IBM slightly upped those figures, noting that the iPhone was the preferred device to bring into a store to shop with — presumably irritating sales clerks everywhere.

Over at Fab, CEO Jason Goldberg was touting in a Betashop blog post that his mobile app sales were 40 percent of the retail site’s total for the day. It’s usually 33 percent, so it’s a small jump, which Goldberg attributed to a tweet by Apple promoting it. But how much did he sell? He’s not saying.

And eBay said it launched 20 mobile-only e-commerce promotions over its app, as did many other retailers.

Also, no surprise, the New York Times weighed in with the classic trend piece: “The Shrewd Shopper Carries a Smartphone.” Um, everyone carries a smartphone now, but it apparently gets more magical when you take it to Macy’s.

We’ll see if Mobile Thursday becomes Mobile Holiday Season, which would be a big deal — but it’s winning so far in the pundit stakes.

Until we get actual numbers, here’s a chart about the whole thing from eBay:

Here’s the full video of Sorkin’s interview with Walt Mossberg at D10, as well as another very funny recent viral video, titled “Sorkinisms,” in which the writer uses his best lines over and over, compiled from a variety of his shows.

The kings are at it again in the second season of HBO’s “Game of Thrones” — the hit cable show based on the famous series of books by George R.R. Martin.

Also, one queen, who has herself some dragons.

Someone’s definitely going to lose an eye. Also a limb, a head, a heart and, well, you get the idea of this fantastically gory television series.

Enjoy:

]]>http://allthingsd.com/20120303/viral-video-there-will-be-dragons-in-game-of-thrones-second-season-natch/feed/0While Facebook’s Filing to Go Public, the Rest of Us Are Filing Taxeshttp://allthingsd.com/20120201/while-facebooks-filing-to-go-public-the-rest-of-us-are-filing-taxes/
http://allthingsd.com/20120201/while-facebooks-filing-to-go-public-the-rest-of-us-are-filing-taxes/#commentsWed, 01 Feb 2012 20:45:22 +0000http://allthingsd.com/?p=170386That’s right: While Facebook is preparing to file an S-1 with the SEC (my boss Kara Swisher chronicled here just how painful that wait can be), the rest of us are thinking about less exciting filings. Like tax returns. And for most Americans, that paperwork doesn’t include words that rhyme with illions.

But fortunately, there are a few free tax apps that can help you with that paperwork.*

Before you get started, you might want to use a tax calculator to estimate how much you’ll get in returns … or how much you’ll owe. The TurboTax TaxCaster is scientifically unproven to either make you shout aloud with joy in the middle of the office or cause your stomach to drop faster than if you were riding this. The TaxCaster app is free on iOS and Android mobile devices as well as online.

TurboTax's iPad app

For preparing your tax paperwork, there’s now a TurboTax iPad app. Intuit actually launched the app last March, but it was too late in the season to really gain traction. The iPad app works even when you’re offline, so you can prepare your tax paperwork from almost anywhere.

This year, TurboTax, which says more than 70 percent of its customers now file online, has added some new features to the iPad app. First, it has hired 700 CPAs and tax attorneys nationwide to be on call for questions that app users might have.

Also, filers can now import data and forms from about 400,000 employers and financial institutions.

Lastly, the app’s keypad has a new user-friendly design. The large, optimized keypad is a good idea. Even when your eyes start to glaze over, you can’t miss the keys.

As with the rest of TurboTax’s mobile apps, it won’t cost users anything to download the iPad app and punch in their information, but users will be charged through iTunes when they go to actually e-file through TurboTax. At the low end, TurboTax Deluxe costs $29.99.

H&R Block has introduced a new mobile app for iPhone and Android devices that allows filers to complete a federal 1040EZ form and state return by snapping a photo of their W-2 forms (TurboTax’s SnapTax does this as well.) The service is free through February 29th.

Filers with more complex tax returns can use the H&R Block iPad app to complete those additional forms.

H&R Block’s smartphone app also aims to help users locate a nearby H&R Block office, estimate a tax refund, check the status on a refund, and decipher various tax terms with a glossary.

Like TurboTax, H&R Block is now offering free extended support for taxpayers, through a Tax Answers program. And if you’d rather have your tax returns filed for you through video conferencing, H&R does that, too, through its new Block Live service.

Keep in mind that if your gross adjusted income last year was $57,000 or less, you can qualify for free e-filing through the IRS’s Web site. And as Ina Fried pointed out a year ago at this time, the IRS has a mobile app for iPhone and Android phones that lets users track their refund status.

Being the huge fan of “Top Chef” that I am — hellllloooo, Padma! — it was even more a treat to see former Microsoft legend, controversial patent grabber and full-time fiddler Nathan Myhrvold as a guest judge this past week on the current season of the popular cable television show.

For those who usually associate him with geekery, he is also a big foodie and the author of fancy tome “Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking.”

Right now, the six-volume, 2,400-page book set retails for $499 on Amazon. As described on the site: “The authors and their 20-person team at The Cooking Lab have achieved astounding new flavors and textures by using tools such as water baths, homogenizers, centrifuges, and ingredients such as hydrocolloids, emulsifiers, and enzymes.”

“Top Chef” is now set in Texas, so the topic was barbecue, an apparent fave of the techie too. But I really liked the competitor chefs’ race in the Quickfire Challenge to pull off some feat of molecular gastronomy best.

I hate to use a personal story to make a professional point — but when I was in the hospital recently, after suffering from a mini-stroke, I got an important piece of health advice that, oddly enough, applies perfectly to Yahoo, the Silicon Valley Internet icon I cover very closely.

I know, I know, but listen up …

When I was close to going home, one of my doctors told me I had to make sure I paid attention to any signs that might indicate a recurrence. The issue around any possible future ischemic attack taking place, he said, is speed in getting critical care once any unusual symptoms become apparent, such as numbness, tingling, confusion and cognitive difficulty.

That’s because every second of delay translates to increased damage to cerebral cells that could badly impact speech, movement and worse.

“Remember,” the doctor intoned with great and very appropriate gravity. “Time is brain.”

Yes, indeed it is — for me, and also very much so for Yahoo these days.

Leaving aside my own mortality, one of the most important issues going forward for Yahoo’s long-hoped-for revival will be how quickly the company moves in the next month, in what has so far been a lugubrious and rumor-heavy process to figure out its strategic plan in the wake of the firing of CEO Carol Bartz in early September.

That means — going into a major holiday season — Yahoo has about 30 working days to make what has to be a complex and multiparty deal. It is likely to include private equity firms, big companies, Asian partners, investment bankers, major shareholders and scrutiny from the media, in an effort that is approximately akin to herding cats.

This from a board that has often moved with snail-like reflexes in the midst of much more minors crises, and has shown a talent for disaster.

So, while speed is sometimes the enemy of reason, in this case, it is now more necessary than ever before.

There are three key reasons why Yahoo’s leaders have to perform quickly now, each of which could spell even more turmoil for the long-troubled company, if botched.

The first is the possibility — actually, the probability — of a proxy fight that might begin informally just after the new year.

That’s when you could start hearing from someone like activist shareholder Daniel Loeb of Third Point — who has been vocal about ousting Yahoo board members, including co-founder Jerry Yang. Yahoo directors are fully aware that he is eyeing this ugly option, which will include readying an alternate slate of directors.

According to a Yahoo spokeswoman, the earliest nominations for directors can be submitted is February 24 for those “shareholder proposals not intended for inclusion in proxy materials and for nomination of director candidates.”

But while there is a formal process, you will hear it coming long before that, unless Yahoo gives Loeb board seats to quiet him down — which is unlikely but possible.

Such a noisy fight is not one Yahoo can afford to have, and it has already shown some cloddish sensibilities in its response to a recent letter by Loeb — who has many more shares than Yang, and should still be accorded a certain amount of respect, no matter what he says.

Given how badly the last Yahoo shareholder tussle with Carl Icahn went, another proxy battle could be deadly, and might drag on through the first half of 2012. In his Yahoo tussle, Icahn ultimately got three seats on the Yahoo board, but eventually went away with everyone the poorer.

Second, Yahoo will report its fourth-quarter earnings in late January, which will likely continue to show weakness in key sectors of its business. While interim CEO Tim Morse is doing a laudable job given the shaky circumstances, drops in advertising revenue growth, engagement and search are not anything Yahoo can keep making excuses for.

While it is likely the company’s beleaguered operating execs will pull out the stops to make the numbers look better — a new game I like to play is “how many homepage ads can they jam in there at the quarter’s end?” — it’s no panacea for the kinds of dramatic and even drastic changes that new ownership will have to make, sooner than later.

And, speaking of beleaguered, perhaps the most important reason that Yahoo has to get the lead out and clarify its situation is due to one consistent thing about the company: Talent attrition and employee fatigue.

Speaking to one exec after another in recent weeks, it is dead clear that Yahoo is increasingly hard-pressed to hold on to the best of its current employees, or to attract any terrific new ones.

The impact on product innovation, morale and more is obvious.

One exec who has long been one of the more cheerleader types for Yahoo — often calling me out in the past for being too negative on the company’s prospects — has recently turned weary, cynical and even depressed about the future — so much so that I now find myself bucking up the worker.

“You can’t hire anyone, since you can’t tell them honestly who their bosses might be in three months,” said the staffer. “And you can’t look anyone who works for you now in the eye and tell them it will turn out right in the end, either, given the track record so far.”

Indeed. And, more than any other factor that could hurt Yahoo in the competitive tech sector, brain drain is what will always get you in the end.

]]>http://allthingsd.com/20111123/for-yahoo-and-me-too-time-is-brain/feed/0TV Networks See Key Audience Erodehttp://allthingsd.com/20110527/tv-networks-see-key-audience-erode/
http://allthingsd.com/20110527/tv-networks-see-key-audience-erode/#commentsFri, 27 May 2011 16:44:08 +0000http://allthingsd.com/?p=79323Fewer young people watched TV on traditional sets over the past television season, the second consecutive year of decline as viewers face a proliferation of ways to watch TV shows.

U.S. TV networks marked the official end of the TV season on Wednesday with a flurry of widely viewed send-offs, including the last episode of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and the season finale of “American Idol.” But those big programs are closing out a TV season in which few new shows became hits, and ratings for the four most-watched networks fell.

Here is a very funny ad for a baseball cap company with actors Alec Baldwin (he of the New York Yankees persuasion) and John Krasinski (a Boston Red Sox fanatic), getting us ready for the 2011 season.

By the way, Walt Mossberg loves the Sox, although BoomTown loves me some World Series-winning San Francisco Giants.

The beard is still very feared.

Enjoy:

]]>http://allthingsd.com/20110413/viral-video-yankees-versus-red-sox-celeb-style/feed/1Viral Video: "SpongeBob SquarePants" Gets to Keep Living in a Pineapple Under the Seahttp://allthingsd.com/20110104/viral-video-spongebob-squarepants-gets-to-keep-living-in-a-pineapple-under-the-sea/
http://allthingsd.com/20110104/viral-video-spongebob-squarepants-gets-to-keep-living-in-a-pineapple-under-the-sea/#commentsTue, 04 Jan 2011 09:42:09 +0000http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=39109

Nickelodeon has ordered up another season of its popular animated television series “SpongeBob SquarePants” for a ninth season.

Yay!

No, really–it is the only kids’ show I have been able to endure so far.

Krabby Patties for all!

Here is the good video of its theme song:

]]>http://allthingsd.com/20110104/viral-video-spongebob-squarepants-gets-to-keep-living-in-a-pineapple-under-the-sea/feed/0Video Meme: Hallelujah for Flash Mobs!http://allthingsd.com/20101223/video-meme-hallelujah-for-flash-mobs/
http://allthingsd.com/20101223/video-meme-hallelujah-for-flash-mobs/#commentsThu, 23 Dec 2010 14:30:28 +0000http://networkeffect.allthingsd.com/?p=1587Flash mobs: They’re no longer elite events for cool kids with secret passwords. This holiday season has seen a remarkable run of flash mobs in North America (and subsequently on YouTube), with both participants and audience members eager to partake in an increasingly democratized art form and then post their experiences online.

One particular highly accessible kind of flash mob, in which local singing groups perform Handel’s “Hallelujah” chorus at shopping malls, has been replicated all over the U.S. and Canada in the last month or so.

Quickly: Flash mobs are traditionally secretly orchestrated performances that play out in public places while bringing a little bit of magic to unsuspecting people in the right place at the right time. If you’ve ever seen those videos of a person breaking into song or dance in a public place, then being joined by hordes of interlopers who somehow know the full routine, you’ve seen a flash mob. (There are also less choreographed variations, like public pillow fights.)

Since flash mobs seem so fun, organic and full of life, they’ve of course been co-opted by marketers who mimic the style right down to camera shots of the surprised and confused onlookers capturing videos of the moment with their own camera phones. But they’ve also recently been adopted by wholesome community groups wanting to spread a little holiday joy. And in many cases, both the performers and the audience know about the event in advance (element of surprise be damned).

One flash mob performance of “Hallelujah” in a Canadian shopping mall, posted on YouTube on Nov. 17, has been seen more than 25 million times. YouTube’s Trends blog recently called it “by far, the most popular video of the season.”

YouTube’s Kevin Allocca also highlighted some 20 other flash mob performances, also of “Hallelujah” and mostly in shopping malls, from Orlando, Cleveland, Chattanooga, Juneau and Winnipeg. Allocca says the meme may actually have been kicked off by the Opera Company of Philadelphia performing “Hallelujah” in a Macy’s as part of the Knight Foundation’s Random Acts of Culture. That video was posted Nov. 1 and has more than six million views.

It’s gotten so bad that on Monday night a mall near Sacramento had to be evacuated after crowds overwhelmed it and the fire department feared for its structural integrity. A planned flash mob by the Sacramento Choral Society and Orchestra and other local congregations had been endorsed by the mall and promoted for weeks, drawing thousands to watch and sing along with their printed-out sheet music.

Would-be flash mobbers broke into impromptu singalongs as they were escorted out of the building and into the parking lot (with their video cameras recording all the while, of course). So apparently spontaneity isn’t dead yet.

]]>http://allthingsd.com/20101223/video-meme-hallelujah-for-flash-mobs/feed/1Cyber Spending Hits $16.8 Billion for the Holidays (So Far)http://allthingsd.com/20101205/cyber-spending-hits-16-8-billion-for-the-holidays-so-far/
http://allthingsd.com/20101205/cyber-spending-hits-16-8-billion-for-the-holidays-so-far/#commentsMon, 06 Dec 2010 00:10:26 +0000http://emoney.allthingsd.com/?p=173In the first 33 days of the holiday season, e-commerce spending has already hit $16.8 billion, increasing 12 percent over the same period last year.

On Tuesday, spending hit $911 million, making it the third-heaviest day on record, and Wednesday and Thursday came in at $868 million and $850 million, respectively. These figures include both physical merchandise, and relatively new categories, like virtual goods.

The big winners in the past week have been the Amazon.coms of the world and other large retailers, comScore noted.

The top 25 online retailers generated 20 percent more sales for the month of November, compared to last year, and their share increased to nearly 68 percent of the market. Meanwhile, the marketshare of small-to-mid-size retailers shrunk to 32.2 percent.

These increases aren’t expected to last as some retailers became less aggressive with promotions and discounts toward the end of the week, when year-over-year growth rates fell to single digits. “We may see another week of this effect before late season discounts and buying by procrastinators gives the season a final spending surge,” said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni.

]]>http://allthingsd.com/20101205/cyber-spending-hits-16-8-billion-for-the-holidays-so-far/feed/2Apple Ramps Up Holiday iPad Productionhttp://allthingsd.com/20101123/apple-ramps-up-holiday-ipad-production/
http://allthingsd.com/20101123/apple-ramps-up-holiday-ipad-production/#commentsTue, 23 Nov 2010 16:13:13 +0000http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/?p=53116Apple manufacturing partner Foxconn is ramping up iPad production capacity to meet demand for the tablet over the holiday season. Taiwanese trade mag Digitimes claims Foxconn has begun using its newest factories in Chengdu, China, to manufacture an additional 10,000 iPads per day, or about 300,000 iPads per month.

Not a huge number, but together with the 2.5 million units Foxconn’s main production site at Shenzhen can produce each month, it’s presumably enough to offset the inevitable spike in holiday demand. And once Chengdu’s 50 iPad production lines are up and running in 2011, Foxconn will be able to produce about 40 million iPads per year–according to Digitimes, anyway.

]]>http://allthingsd.com/20101123/apple-ramps-up-holiday-ipad-production/feed/0Netflix Web-Only Service Coming, Probably Not Cheaphttp://allthingsd.com/20101118/netflix-web-only-service-coming-probably-not-cheap/
http://allthingsd.com/20101118/netflix-web-only-service-coming-probably-not-cheap/#commentsThu, 18 Nov 2010 12:00:09 +0000http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/?p=25992Hate discs? Love Web video? Netflix should have something for you shortly: At the Web 2.0 conference yesterday, CEO Reed Hastings said a streaming-only option for U.S. subscribers should be available “shortly.”

The big caveat here is we don’t know what Netflix plans to offer. But my hunch is the company won’t be able to offer a streaming-only option at a significant discount to its most popular $8.99-a-month plan, which also lets you stream unlimited video–and allows you to check out any DVD you want.

Netflix has been testing the same service, at the same price, in the U.S. this fall.

Even though the Netflix streaming-only option only offers about 20 percent of the catalog available on its traditional DVD rental service, the company is paying big money for that catalog. Netflix has already racked up a $1.2 billion digital content bill, which could grow to $2 billion next year.

Netflix has also been testing out a price increase for its $8.99 streaming + disc plan, to $9.99 a month. Perhaps that’s to make the $7.99 option appear that much more attractive ($7.99 also happens to be the new price for Netflix competitor Hulu Plus).

And perhaps $7.99 will be just fine for people who don’t want to deal with discs and envelopes and mailboxes, and want instant video whenever they want it. Even if they can’t get everything they want.

In any case, this could all be moot. While I haven’t seen any reports of a streaming-only option priced below $7.99, Netflix has said it has run “many” tests. So perhaps it has a trick up its sleeve.

For giggles, I asked Netflix PR guy Steve Swasey what he could tell me. His response: “Stay tuned!”

Fair enough. I assume that “shortly” means “in time for the Christmas shopping season, when people start buying shiny new TVs and gadgets that work well with Netflix streaming.” And that kicks off on Black Friday–just eight days away.

The national broadcast television networks aren’t the only ones debuting a fall series season.

CollegeHumor Media, the online comedy video site, is also trying out three longer-term, weekly series rather than the more typical “viral one-offs,” it said.

“The whole idea is to get people to start thinking of CollegeHumor less as a comedy show, and more as a comedy network.” said CollegeHumor’s President of Original Content, Sam Reich, in a statement.

Thus, the New York-based unit of IAC/InterActiveCorp (IACI) is offering:

“Full Benefits”–What happens when your friend with benefits is also a co-worker? Well, presumably, hilarity ensues!

“Hello My Name Is”–A professional make-up artist is hired to apply prosthetics to cast member Josh Ruben. When the process is complete, does hilarity ensue?

“Very Mary Kate”–Life can be tough for a former child star with only a few billion dollars, a 26-bedroom apartment and a trusty bodyguard to her name. Hilarity or something like it, I think.

As you will see from these three videos, they are all still a little not-ready-for-prime-time, but it’s a nice effort, especially from the adorkable couple in “Full Benefits.”

Enjoy:

]]>http://allthingsd.com/20101014/viral-video-collegehumors-move-from-viral-one-offs-to-web-series/feed/0IPad Hits Wal-Mart Fridayhttp://allthingsd.com/20101012/ipad-hits-wal-mart-friday/
http://allthingsd.com/20101012/ipad-hits-wal-mart-friday/#commentsTue, 12 Oct 2010 14:00:37 +0000http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/?p=50593 With the holiday shopping season nearly upon us, Wal-Mart (WMT) is gearing up to sell the iPad. The big box retailer says Apple’s tablet will go on sale at hundreds of its stores on Friday, October 15, reaching all 2,300 by November. That’s some serious retail visibility–not that the iPad needs it. With the device already being sold at Best Buy and Target (TGT), as well as in Apple’s own retail stores, this holiday season is likely to be a very, very good one for the iPad.
]]>http://allthingsd.com/20101012/ipad-hits-wal-mart-friday/feed/0Viral Video: Katy Perry Defiles Elmohttp://allthingsd.com/20100928/viral-video-katy-perry-defiles-elmo/
http://allthingsd.com/20100928/viral-video-katy-perry-defiles-elmo/#commentsTue, 28 Sep 2010 07:14:08 +0000http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=34213

Okay, it’s admittedly a very funny mock skit from this weekend’s season premiere of “Saturday Night Live,” featuring singer Katy Perry and her problems related to a canceled appearance on “Sesame Street.”

But must poor Elmo suffer? You’ll figure out why right away.

One big plus: The genius of former SNL cast members Maya Rudolph and Amy Poehler, who was also host of the NBC television comedy show. Perry was the musical guest too.